Urban Neuroscience - 24-01-04 

AIA CEU Number: 24-01-04
Number of Credits: 1.0 HSW
Course Title: Design Neuroscience
Keywords: Data, Behavioural Analysis, Psychosocial Wellness, Public Space
Session Description:
This session explores the importance of understanding the emerging field of neuroscience and its impact on architecture and built environment. Our unconscious behaviour directs our built environment experience: where we go, how we move through a space, and what we look at and see. The use of biometric tools, including eye tracking software and facial expression analysis can be combined to assess any design. This course explores the polar views of simplicity and complexity in architecture and reveals how modern neuroscience can help the architect know what people will enjoy, look at, and interact with. The allure of fractal patterns in nature and in traditional architecture is based on the finding that fractal patterns have an ability to alleviate stress and enhance cognitive well-being through the profound experience of aesthetic beauty. These are the tools designers can use to elevate the human experience and promote physical, mental, and social well-being as we interact with their design.
Learning objectives:
1. Understand that our unconscious behaviours reveal how we are affected physically and psychologically by our physical environment.
2. Learn that data-driven modern neuroscience tools like eye-tracking and facial expression software and tracking pedestrian routes and speed can inform the design of spaces that support psychological wellbeing of stakeholders.
3. Understand how the conclusion that architectural complexity may be more psychologically beneficial than simplicity might be.
4. Understand that mathematical proportions, geometries, and fractal patterns in architectural design are imperative for promoting human health and well-being in that they relate to familiar patterns and environmental cues in nature.
Our built environment directly impacts our psychological state, revealed by our unconscious behavior and social interactions. Assessing how architecture supports public health, safety and welfare must also consider psychosocial wellbeing. This session will inform attendees about the latest neuroscientific studies and data-driven tools which designers can use to assess the impact of built projects on human psychology, assess how stable or varied these effects are across cultures, and utilize this knowledge to supplement their design process.